Illustration of the wind farm off Ostend, in Belgium, built by the Eneco consortium. - Eric Feferberg / AFP

  • The fishermen carried out a show of force this Monday morning in the bay of Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor).
  • They oppose the construction of an offshore wind farm which is to be commissioned in 2023.
  • A crisis meeting should take place on Tuesday between the fishermen and the project leaders.

They warned in April that they would take action from the start of technical studies at sea. This Monday morning, Breton fishermen put their threats into effect in the bay of Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-d'Armor). Early in the morning, around thirty fishing boats left the ports of Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Erquy or Paimpol to reach the area where a park of 62 wind turbines is to see the light of day by 2023.

Fishermen throw a wreath near the Geo Ocean IV #saintbrieuc # carolien @ AilesMarines #iberdrola pic.twitter.com/ddapdOsH9N

- Thibaud Grasland (@thibaudgrasland) May 18, 2020

It is there that the Geo Ocean IV , a boat commissioned by Electricity Transport Network (RTE), took position since late Friday afternoon to conduct seabed soundings. Maintained at a distance by two ships of the national navy as well as a patroller and a star of the gendarmerie, the fishermen demonstrated calmly around the study ship, cracking a few smoke bombs at sea. Everything finally returned to normal at the end of the morning, the fishing boats and the Geo Ocean IV all leaving the area.

Fishermen fear the impact of the works on the resource

With this show of force, the fishermen thus intend to maintain pressure on the promoter Ailes Marines, a subsidiary of the Spanish group Iberdrol, which had won the tender in 2012 for the construction of this offshore wind farm with a power of 496 MegaWatts. "We have always been opposed to this park and we will do everything to ensure that it does not see the light of day," says Julien Tréhorel, fisherman in Erquy and president of the association for the defense of small-scale fishing in the Gulf of Normandy. -breton, who participated in the punch action this Monday morning.

Like him, Breton fishermen fear the impact of the construction of the wind farm on their activity, and in particular on the fishery resource. "It is a very rich area where many of us fish for scallops, lobster and fish", underlines Julien Tréhorel, who denounces "the strong passage" of the project leaders. "There was no consultation with the profession," he says. They are starting their studies when no scientific element on these technical studies, in particular on noise, has been brought to our attention ”.

A meeting scheduled for Tuesday between fishermen and project leaders

Fishermen are all the more on edge as the last few months have been tough for the profession with repeated storms this winter and the coronavirus crisis which has seized the entire sector. To prevent the situation from worsening, a meeting should take place this Tuesday between the fishermen, the promoters of the project and representatives of the State.

Coronavirus in Brittany: “Continue to eat fish”… The alarm cry of an entire industry https://t.co/BC2NK2NwkT via @ 20minutesRennes pic.twitter.com/2wnksjqSvn

- 20 Minutes Rennes (@ 20minutesrennes) March 31, 2020

In a press release published Thursday, the president of the Brittany region Loïg Chesnais-Girard called on Ailes Marines and RTE to "respect their commitments" and to listen "attentively" to the concerns of fishermen. But for him, this wind farm project must see the light of day because it is "essential for the energy future of Brittany" and must allow "finally launching the renewable maritime energy sector that our region has been waiting for so long" .

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